Mercenary Wars

Chapter 249 Element Balance Experiments
Later that day, Gaogano went to the Pharmacists' Guild and bought some Forget-Me-Not.

After spending several hundred gold coins, he had twenty-four pieces of Eternal Forgetfulness Moss, four each of water, fire, and wind elements, and twelve of earth elements.

That is, the materials of the four groups of secondary inspiration agents.

The material includes eight additional secondary stabilizing agents.

Gao Gano is quite familiar with the secondary stabilizing agent; with eight sets of materials, he can make at least four bottles.

The Lesser Enlightenment Elixir is still quite unfamiliar to me, and it is also more difficult in itself. It has the same difficulties as other elixirs, and it also has difficulties that other elixirs do not have - such as coordinating elemental conflicts. When four types of Eternal Forgetfulness Moss coexist, the slightest carelessness may cause elemental conflicts and ruin all previous efforts. It would be good if I could make one bottle with four sets of materials.

In order to maximize the success rate, Gaucano naturally devoted a lot of energy to alchemy in the following period of time, and looked forward to entering the Golden Plains again every day to practice making Lesser Enlightenment Elixir.

Finally, about a month later, it was his turn to queue again at Golden Plains.

Just like last time, Gaucano began adjusting his schedule a day in advance to ensure he was in peak mental condition when he entered the Golden Plains. After a good rest, he took several alchemy books borrowed from the library and headed straight for the Gate to the Plains, located deep within the alchemy workshop.

But just as he reached the alchemy workshop, a voice called out to him: "Hey, you there, Gao Gano!"

When Gao Jiano turned around, he saw a disheveled, dwarf old man waving at him.

“Professor Francis.” Gaucano was taken aback.

The visitor was Francis, one of the three chair professors of the Laziville branch of alchemy.

He walked over with the small, shuffling steps typical of dwarfs, looked up and asked, "Are you free now?"

Gaucano: "Excuse me, Professor Francis, it's my turn in the appointment queue for Golden Plains..."

Professor Francis waved his hand: "I thought it was something important! I just happen to have a brilliant idea. If you're willing to help me, I'll give you ten uses of the Golden Plains without having to wait in line!"

Gao Jiano couldn't help but open his eyes wide.

Ten uses of the Golden Plains!
No need to queue!
The wait time for one queue at Golden Plains is usually at least a month, and ten queues would conservatively take a year. If you encounter the peak usage period at the end of the semester or before important exams, it is not uncommon for it to take even two years!
Given such a privilege, Gaucano immediately decided to grant it.

Of course, considering Professor Francis's deeds, he couldn't help but ask, "Is there any danger?"

“Of course not!” Professor Francis patted his chest, saying confidently, “Come with me!”

Gaucano felt a little relieved and then followed Francis away, turning a few corners to head to the Magic Gold Forge area, which was also located in the Alchemy Workshop.

Unlike the tranquility of the Mithril Chamber, the Magic Metal Forge is a noisy and hot area.

Anvils, hammers, and furnaces of all sizes are scattered throughout, ranging from small, exquisite jewelry-making tables to enormous furnaces several meters in diameter. The high, domed space is filled with a sweltering heat and the distinctive smell of molten metal. There are also far more dwarf students here than in other areas. While their magical talent is generally not high, they are all skilled in forging and possess an innate sensitivity and intuition for various metals.

Gao Jiano noticed that the walls and floor here occasionally flashed with a pale blue light, which outlined regular runes and geometric patterns, forming a huge and complex network of magic circles. It was clear that many water-attribute magic circles had been set up.

"Are these magic circles for cooling down?" he couldn't help but ask.

“Not entirely,” Professor Francis said, walking ahead. “In fact, their primary function is to prevent ‘fire elemental generation’.”

"Derived from fire element?"

“In a sense, elements are alive, especially fire elements… Therefore, in extremely hot regions, fire elemental creatures will always spontaneously emerge. These fire elemental creatures, naturally arising from the furnace, are like irritable beasts, irrational, uncommunicative, and highly aggressive. Once they appear, they are very troublesome to deal with!” Professor Francis said slowly. “Moreover, we cannot always simply and brutally kill these fire elemental creatures, because that would attract the collective hatred of other fire elemental creatures, and might even attract the attention of the fire elemental plane, which would be a real problem.”

He turned his head slightly: "So the best way is to take precautions! Although these magic circles are extremely expensive, at least they won't put us in a vicious cycle."

Gaucano nodded.

He followed Professor Francis through a steaming forging area and soon arrived at a seemingly unremarkable door. The door was made of dark oak and had no decorations on its surface; if Professor Francis hadn't stopped specifically for it, Gaucano wouldn't have even noticed its existence.

"We've arrived at the Elemental Balance Laboratory!" Professor Francis said.

Then, as if remembering something, he turned and asked, "By the way, if I remember correctly, your Earth Elemental Blessing should be Stone Skin?"

"Yes."

Professor Francis hesitated for a moment, then asked, "It should be much more durable than regular Stone Skin, right?"

“Yes…” A bad feeling suddenly rose in Gao Jiano’s heart.

“Then there’s no problem!” Professor Francis stood on tiptoe and patted him on the back.

He then took out an exquisitely crafted wand from his mage robes, its head inlaid with a crystal that emitted a silvery glow. Holding the wand, he lightly waved it in front of the Elemental Balance Laboratory.

A faint light flashed, and then something magical happened—the laboratory door vanished completely, revealing the space behind it, as if the door had never existed and was merely an illusion.

But clearly, this wasn't an illusion, or at least not entirely one; otherwise, one could simply enter the illusion without needing to dispel it. Furthermore, Gaucano could vaguely sense that some kind of complex magic had indeed been dispelled for a brief moment.

Just then, a blue-haired young man approached from a distance. The young man appeared slightly older than him, was tall and slender, and wore a fine dark blue scholar's robe. He greeted Professor Francis with, "Mentor."

Professor Francis nodded and introduced Tom to Gaogano: "This is my honorary disciple, Tom from Little Norton Island... Tom has two water elemental holy names, is very talented in water elemental magic, and has a lot in common with me. You should know how rare that is, after all, I have two fire elemental holy names!"

Gaucano and Tom greeted each other politely and exchanged a friendly smile.

"Come in!" Professor Francis said, entering the laboratory first.

Gaucano followed closely behind.

Once all three had entered, the laboratory door reappeared, isolating the inside from the outside.

Meanwhile, Gaucano observed the scene in the laboratory.

There seems to be no light source here.

But you can see everything clearly.

The walls and floors of the room appeared to be made of Patrick marble, and the finest quality of it, pure white and without any blemishes.

Aside from the four unidentified mithril cabinets displayed in the four corners of the room, the most eye-catching feature was undoubtedly the huge magic circle engraved in the center of the ground.

The scale of the magic circle was breathtaking, with a radius estimated to be over five meters, occupying almost most of the laboratory space. The thickest lines were comparable to an adult's arm, while the thinnest were as fine as a hair. Tens of thousands of complex patterns and ancient elven scripts were scattered throughout the circle like stars in the sky. The overall structure was extremely complex and precise, making it dizzying to look at.

However, if you only look at the thickest lines, you can see some clues about its basic structure. The entire magic circle is like two vertically intersecting balances, with the four hollow circles serving as the pans of the balances.

There is a small circle in the middle of the four perfect circles, which is also the exact center of the entire magic circle.

"This magic circle is called the 'Four Elements Balance'," Professor Francis explained. "Quite descriptive, isn't it?"

"indeed."

“Normally, it would take four people skilled in different elemental spells to conduct the experiment on the Four Elements Balance,” Professor Francis sighed. “But getting four people to achieve the ideal precision at the same time is extremely difficult. There are always subtle differences in the coordination between people. Sometimes we can achieve perfect balance in the morning, but completely fail in the afternoon, and we simply can’t find the reason for the failure!”

He changed the subject, looking at Gao Jiano: "You might be able to help me solve this problem. With a pair of mutually exclusive elemental blessings, you should be able to play the role of two people in this experiment, which would greatly reduce the difficulty of achieving balance!"

Gaucano: "What exactly do you need me to do?"

Professor Francis pointed to the center of the magic circle: "It's simple. Stand on the circle in the middle and activate your two elemental blessings simultaneously—the wind and earth elements. Leave the rest to Tom and me; we'll each be responsible for controlling the fire and water elements!"

Gaucano hesitated slightly.

After all, the very center of a magic circle is usually the area where magical energy is most concentrated and active. In the event of an accident, the person in the center is often the first to be affected...

However, recalling the information in the "Ax Magic Academy Survival Handbook," he learned that although the Magic Gold Forge often exploded, it had not caused any deaths for nearly a hundred years.

Besides, I have the skin of the earth.

It shouldn't be too dangerous...

With this slightly uneasy thought in mind, and considering Professor Francis's irresistible promise of ten free uses of the Golden Plains without waiting in line, Gao Gano made up his mind and walked straight to the center of the magic circle, standing on the circle that marked the core position.

"Your Wind Elemental Blessing is the Breeze spell, right?"

"Yes, Professor."

Professor Francis nodded: "Then, while maintaining the Stone Skin technique, create as much breeze as possible and keep it firmly attached to your body."

Gao Jiano nodded, then activated Earth Skin, simultaneously creating twelve swift breezes that adhered to his body.

The magic circle glowed faintly.

But overall, everything remained calm and normal.

Professor Francis and Tom, witnessing this scene, both showed excitement: "By Mosa, the wind and earth are now in balance!"

“Perhaps my idea can actually succeed!” Professor Francis said, walking to a circle and waving to Tom.

Tom then walked to the circle opposite Professor Francis.

For a moment, the three formed a line, with Gaucano in the center.

Then Tom and Professor Francis began casting spells simultaneously, and flames and water grew in two perfect circles, reflecting each other.

With the appearance of the two opposing elements, water and fire, the originally calm magic circle immediately began to flash rapidly, with various colors of light jumping alternately, illuminating the entire laboratory in a flickering light.

At the same time, unsettling magical fluctuations began to permeate the room, sometimes present, sometimes absent, sometimes strong, sometimes weak, as if some enormous force was trying to break free of its restraints.

Gaucano, who was in the center of the magic circle, could clearly feel this fluctuation.

This is the restlessness of the elements.

At times, this restlessness made his hair stand on end.

However, he couldn't do anything, nor did he know what he could do. He could only watch as Professor Francis and Tom adjusted the magic circle with serious expressions.

After a few minutes.

The restlessness and clashes of the elements seem to have subsided.

The flickering of the magic circle gradually weakened.

All three of them couldn't help but show a hint of relief on their faces.

Tom even subconsciously exhaled: "Phew."

However, at that moment, the previously calm magic circle began to flicker rapidly again, and became unprecedentedly intense.

Professor Francis's expression changed, and the surrounding flames instantly intensified.

"boom--"

With a loud bang and seeing stars, Gao Jiano felt as if he had been hit hard, and was instantly thrown away by an inexplicable force!
It turned out that the laboratory walls were not Patrick marble.

Otherwise, when Gaugano crashed into it, the wall would at least develop cracks.

Even though Gaucano was hit so hard he vomited blood, the wall remained completely intact.

"Cough cough!" He weakly got up from the ground, coughed up a few mouthfuls of blood, and looked at his skin.

wipe!
It's like a layer of skin has been peeled off!

Gao Jiano had long suspected that the experiment might not be as easy as Professor Francis had said, but the serious consequences still made him curse under his breath.

I'm not going to be disfigured!
Professor Francis and Tom rushed over to help him up.

Gao Jiano's expression was rather unpleasant.

The intense pain throughout his body, coupled with the possibility of disfigurement, made it difficult for him to maintain a smile, even when facing a professor or a level twelve archmage.

Professor Francis clearly realized this as well, and looked quite embarrassed. He quickly pulled out a bottle of potion: "This is a nourishing potion that can heal your injuries..."

"Oh, and this too, a Lesser Transformation Potion." He pulled out another bottle of potion. "It can repair skin defects and make you even more handsome than me!"

(End of this chapter)